


Looking At You

by jisoos, lanfan



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-20
Updated: 2015-08-20
Packaged: 2018-04-16 06:33:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4614843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jisoos/pseuds/jisoos, https://archiveofourown.org/users/lanfan/pseuds/lanfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>jeonghan is an art major who is horrible with words. seungcheol is an english major who is horrible at drawing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Looking At You

The first time Jeonghan saw Seungcheol he was infatuated.

It had been simple in the beginning. All Jeonghan wanted to do was draw him. He wanted to recreate him from every angle he could – which was fairly difficult considering he only ever watched from a distance. He wanted to memorize ever curve, every line that defined his features. Before he knew anything about him, Seungcheol had very quickly become Jeonghan’s muse.

He was content with it staying at that. He was content with Seungcheol being another nameless face in his sketchbook. But he became much more when they were introduced by a mutual friend. Suddenly those toothy smiles he had taken hours to get perfect on paper were for him. Those affectionate eyes that were impossible to properly bring to life in his sketchbook were trained on him whenever they were together.

Seungcheol was no longer just shapes on paper. He had a name. He had a voice. He was right in front of him and so much more than Jeonghan had given him credit for.

It took a month of knowing each other for Seungcheol to confess to Jeonghan.

It took two months of being together for Jeonghan to show Seungcheol his drawings.

“Let me draw you, too.”

They were sitting in Jeonghan’s room of the apartment he shared with Jisoo; the handful of sketches Jeonghan had made all those months ago spread out in front of him for Seungcheol to see. Since they had gotten together, Jeonghan had felt guilty for keeping it a secret from him. He was terrified of how Seungcheol would react; scared that he would think Jeonghan was some kind of stalker. The last thing he wanted was to push Seungcheol away and have nothing left but the two-dimensional lines he started with.

Seungcheol had been studying the pieces in front of him. And those were the first words he chose to say.

“What?”

“You drew all of these pictures of me,” he said as he lifted up one of the pages that was ripped from his sketchbook – carefully – as if it would crumble in his hand if he wasn’t gentle. “I want to draw you, too. I want to show you what you mean to me.”

Since he had met him, Seungcheol never ceased to amaze Jeonghan. It was almost as if it were more unnatural for Seungcheol not to throw Jeonghan a curveball than it was for him to be completely normal.

“So you’re not upset?”

“Why would I be upset? If this is how you really perceive me… I’m honored more than anything else,” Seungcheol smiled up at Jeonghan – the same smile he had fallen in love with in the first place. The same smile that always seemed to calm him down regardless of the situation. And Jeonghan couldn’t help but smile himself.

“So can I?” Seungcheol asked again, this time with a small pout just in case Jeonghan would object to the idea.

But of course he didn’t. He couldn’t. It was always very difficult for him to deny Seungcheol no matter how hard he tried. Jeonghan reached up to his desk and handed Seungcheol one of the many sketchbooks he had thrown around his room along with a coal pencil.

Seungcheol took hold of them eagerly – and with a childlike smile – flipped the book open to the first empty page he came across.

Jeonghan chuckled softly as he held up the pencil to his face, one eye closed and his tongue sticking out the corner of his mouth. He was sure the actions were only mimicked for show and not for any actual purpose.

It didn’t take very long for Seuncheol to dedicate himself to the sketch. His eyes darted back and forth; his brows furrowed in concentration. Jeonghan watched him with a gentle smile, amused that he was putting in so much effort. He was tempted to peak at his work thus far but was sure Seungcheol would throw a fit.

As he watched him work, Jeonghan began to think how lucky he was. He wondered if things would have been different if he had never drawn him in the first place.

In the beginning of their relationship, he often worried that the only reason he fell for Seungcheol was because he had been his muse.

But it was times like these – when Seungcheol showed his absolute and unwavering support and affection – that Jeonghan knew things would have ended the same. It wasn’t the lines on the surface that he fell in love with. It was everything else that made up Seungcheol. The things that he couldn’t possibly begin to express with a pencil or paint brush.

“Done,” Seungcheol huffed, holding out the picture in front of him for one final look. He tilted his head this way and that, looking at the piece in every angle he could manage. And although he had proclaimed he was finished, he wore a pout that Jeonghan assumed meant he wasn’t very pleased with the outcome.

“Can I see?” he asked, holding his hand out for the sketch.

Seungcheol looked up at Jeonghan and back down at the sketch. He contemplated for a moment before letting out a defeated huff. “You have to promise not to laugh,” he asked with pleading eyes.

Just the look itself was almost enough to make him laugh before even seeing the finished piece. “I won’t laugh,” Jeonghan promised as he gestured again for Seungcheol to hand over the sketch book.

He sighed again and nodded, holding on for one last second before finally giving up his work.

And when Jeonghan looked at it, he understood Seungcheol’s plea.

The sketch was mostly a smudged blob that very vaguely resembled Jeonghan. It could have resembled anyone with long hair, really. If it were shown to anyone else with no context, they would have said it was a drawing by a four year old who just learned how to hold a pencil properly.

But still, Jeonghan could see the work that was put into it. The places that were smudged and redrawn. The messy and accidental fingerprints that were scattered on the page. It wasn’t professional. It wasn’t even good. But it was done with so much affection that Jeonghan could ignore his inner art student pointing out each flaw.

“It’s horrible,” Seungcheol stated disappointedly.

“It’s lovely,” Jeonghan assured him with a smile. “I think I’ll frame it.”

Seungcheol chuckled softly and shook his head. “You don’t need to frame it… But you do need to take a look at the back,” he stated, making Jeonghan raise a brow in confusion as he did what Seungcheol had requested.

I may not be good at art but

Words are my primary colors

And I’ve learned how to paint syllabic mosaics about you like I’ve been doing it for decades:

First your hands then your hips,

Lips curved into a smile that makes my heard dip clipped - - I’m still learning how to speak around you

Making sure I’ve mixed the right colors to describe you:

Effervescent

And hopefully mine.

 

When he looked back up at Seungcheol, he was watching him sheepishly. He gave him a small, hopeful smile as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I uh… I hope that makes up for the shitty drawing.”

And all Jeonghan could think was how he ever could have doubted his feelings for Seungcheol; and how he ever could have doubted Seungcheol’s feelings for him.

He smiled and nodded.

“I’ll definitely frame it.”


End file.
